Anil Baijal frontrunner for Lieutenant Governor post?

New Delhi: After Najeeb Jung resigned from the post of lieutenant governor of Delhi, the focus has shifted on the person who could replace him in the near future. Though Mr Jung was appointed by the then Congress government at the Centre, he immediately changed gears and started following the diktat of the saffron brigade-led Centre to counter AAP government in the national capital. He was perhaps the only LG in the history of Delhi who had a direct confrontation on a host of  policy and governance-related issues with the elected government.

There are strong speculations in the bureaucratic circles that former Union home secretary Anil Baijal is the main frontrunner for the post of the L-G. Mr Baijal, who is also a member of the Vivekanand  Foundation, is said to have a good rapport with national security advisor Ajit Doval, who enjoys full patronage of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Incidentally, Mr Doval is also a member of the Vivekanand Foundation.

Another name doing the rounds in the local circles is that former police commissioner B.S. Bassi, who had waged an indirect war with the AAP government could be the next choice for the LG’s post. What goes in favour of Mr Bassi is that by virtue of heading the city police, he is well aware about the pressing issues of the national capital.

Asked why the government would not be considering veteran party leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra for the L-G’s post as he was once the saffron brigade’s CM candidate, a local leader said, “Malhotra ji was earlier offered the post of the governor of West Bengal, which he refused to accept. He wanted to become the governor of Punjab, which the Centre refused. In such a scenario, I do not think he will be given a chance to head Delhi.”

There is also a buzz in the political circles that the Union government could possibly bring in a person having strong leanings towards the saffron ideology to counter the AAP dispensation in the next year’s  municipal elections, which is going to be a testing time for the party after it lost 67 of the 70 seats in the Delhi Assembly elections. The BJP has been ruling the three civic bodies for  the past 10 years. It received a  major jolt in the byelections in which it managed to win just one of the 13 wards. The AAP  opened its score in the municipal elections by winning seven wards and the remaining five went to the Congress, which was  battered and shattered in both Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

Since the post of the L-G has become significant in wake of the Delhi high court ruling that he is the administrative head of the state, a highly-placed source said that the Centre will be very careful in naming Mr Jung’s replacement. With the Centre yet to take a call on the matter, there were indications that the newly-appointed Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari has already started lobbying to get his person of choice to take charge. Soon after the news of Mr Jung’s resignation was out, Mr Tiwari is said to have held meeting with Union home minister Rajnath Singh.

“We all know municipal elections will be held under the leadership of actor-turned politician Manoj ji,” a local saffron leader told this newspaper. “So one can not ignore Mr Tiwari’s recommendations in finding Mr Jung’s replacement. After all Mr Tewari has a strong say among the Purvanchali voters.” Mr Tewari had made his debut in politics by winning the Lok Sabha elections 2014 from Northeast Delhi constituency.